Baseball & Brothers
by Loner Faris
Summary: Kurt is determined to play sports with his older brother & rival, Graydon. How will their mother handle this? Graydon is canon in the comics; this story was inspired by a doodle I drew of Nightcrawler & Mystique, then looking at DeviantArtist Jada-Clash's picture (cover; if you could read it, you'd realize it's funnier than anything I can write).


One would think that when the sun is overhead, burning the air itself, people would stay inside with the AC blowing into every crack & crevice of their homes. One would be wrong, especially when it came to a furry yound boy & his friends.  
Kurt was dying. There was no other way to put it. He couldn't figure out what was killing him faster, though. Was it the oppressive heat, or how badly his team was getting creamed? All he knew was America's pastime was not made with small fuzzy mutants in mind.  
Kurt had come across some older kids from school playing baseball & asked to join, as any young, upcoming superstar in the world of school time sports would do. Therein laid his great mistake, fore he forgot the one most essentail & often unspoken rule of the world's future rulers. Never, ever let some small, goofy looking, lower grader join your games & think he's one of the cool kids.  
Of course they blew him off, but Kurt knew how to be a little brother. After a bit of heckling from a safe sprinting distance, the gang decided to let him join. Kurt was aware of their malicious intent, but was determined to get his way.  
"Alright, _little bro_ ," Graydon spoke through gritted teeth. "You know the rules from your wimpy school games, but if you want to play for real you better be as good as the rest of us. If you think you can just _waltz_ in here  & play because Mom said you could, _I'll make you think again_."  
Kurt thought for a second, but was pretty sure his half-brother was trying to send some kind of message. He'd have to talk to their sister when he was done here, just to make sure. Nodding enthusiastically to them, the other kids let the rookie join.  
They'd been giving him a tough time from the first minute in the game, but Kurt was used to it & held firm. He'd been outperforming the others, & his team had been subpar just to blame him for their tragic losing streak. All he had to do was show them he was the best. He could carry his team to victory as they dragged their feet.  
Flash-foward back to way too much time in the summer sun, where Kurt was panting as he half crawled up to bat. His motivational inner speech about how awesome he would look when he won got too hard too finish as he sank to his knees at the plate. Swinging the bat in his tail, he prepared for the throw.  
The ball seemed to come faster than it should & was much harder to see than earlier in the day, complements of the celestial body now out to foil the sports hero. He swang anyway, but hit air filled with heckling better than his own.  
The second throw came, equally as elusive & far more agravating. With the opposing team questioning if they should bother giving him the third try, Kurt screamed to his brother to through the ball. His rival didn't hesitate, & what happen next was a living dream Kurt wouldn't forget.  
The bat made contact & the sound echoed throughout the field. It flew further than any other hit, farther than any bird had flown in the yard that day. Kurt looked up along with the other boys & girls to watch it arc in the sky, just barely remembering to run the bases. Another sound broke through & cut off the still ringing crack of the bat.  
A shattering sound commanded Kurt's heels to dig into the ground before he reached the next base. Turning with dread, he beheld the realization that some dreams were nightmares. The window of the host's house was in fragments. The ball had destoyed it right as the last person he needed to see walked up the driveway.  
His mother looked over as Graydon met her happily for the first time in his life. Watching him point & grin, Kurt knew the all too truthful tale he was telling. As the mistress of masquerade, head of the household (when her partner was absent, obviously), & enforcer of chores (when her parter was _present_ , of course) aproached, Kurt could do nothing but watch & swallow the dry emptiness in his throat.  
"Hey, sweetie," Raven began in her usual hushed & gentle voice (for children only). "Graydon says you kids had an eventful game & that you wanted to tell me all about it yourself."  
Kurt looked up at his mother with smoky eyes, but all he could see was his brother's wicked smile off in the distance. Holding her hand while wrapping his tail around her wrist, he pointed to the broken window. As he was doing his best to explain the accident, he saw the shape shifter's face change without morphing.  
"I didn't mean to! I just couldn't see ze ball. _Mutter_ , it waz a _unfall_. Maybe someday we'll l-laugh about ziz..."  
The tranformation of his mother's face was complete now, as she looked at the distant window. "Kurt, I'm laughing _now_!"

 **Author's note: This was made as an unofficial follow-up to Afterschool Activities. tells me Mutter is Mother & unfall is accident. If I'm wrong, please let me know.**


End file.
